


Taboo

by periferal



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga, RWBY
Genre: Angst, Canon-Compliant, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Human Transmutation, Interrupted Human Transmutation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-22
Updated: 2018-09-22
Packaged: 2019-07-15 17:14:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,422
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16067648
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/periferal/pseuds/periferal
Summary: Ren, Nora, and Jaune think they can bring Pyrrha back.Ruby has other ideas.





	Taboo

The first morning after Ruby gave up on trying to get Yang to talk to her, she stumbled downstairs to the kitchen of the house on Patch to find Ren, Nora, and Jaune all sitting at the table, staring at each other without speaking.

She turned around immediately and headed back up to her room. She didn't know what to say.

 

She found some of her old weapon manuals and reads those all that first day, until Qrow found her and brings her down to dinner.

“She hasn’t talked to me, either,” he said, as though that was supposed to make anything better.

 

“We can try and bring her back,” Ruby heard Ren said, the second morning. Once again she’d found JNR sitting at the kitchen table, staring at each other, but this time the table was covered in books and--Ruby stood on her toes to check without moving closer--graph paper. “We can probably find everything we need in the kitchen, and failing that we can just raid Taiyang’s lab. I’m sure he’ll understand.”

That was the most Ruby had heard Ren speak since they all arrived on Patch.

“You can’t do that,” Ruby said That was the most she’d said to any of them since she gave up on Yang. It might even have been the most she’s said to any of them in a while since they’d arrived on Patch, but she wasn't thinking about that.

“Yes, we can,” Nora said. “Jaune’s powerful enough to supply the energy we need, and this is literally all we’ve been researching since we got here.”

Ruby shook her head. “No, I mean you  _ can’t _ do that. It won’t work.”

She walked over to the table and grabbed what looked like the diagram for the transmutation matrix. Surprised by how calm she felt, she tore the paper into as many pieces as she could and threw it in the trash, faster than any of the three of them could react.

“How could you do that?” Jaune demanded. He stood up. He looked like he was about to cry. “It’s my fault she’s dead, it's my responsibility to fix it! You’d do the same if you had to.”

Ruby shook her head. She was suddenly very glad that there was a table between her and her three friends.

“I wouldn't,” she said. “Even if it was my sister. Death... death isn't something you can undo.”

She sat in the chair across from them. “You're mad at me, but can you listen to me for a little bit? I'm really sorry.”

Talking about this made her feel like a little kid again, but to her surprise, Ren nodded. “Okay,” he said, and looked at Nora.

Nora sighed, and nodded as well. Jaune dropped his head on the table. “Days of research, wasted,” he murmured.

“Thank you,” Ruby said. 

 

“Yang had it all planned out,” she began. “This was a little bit after... after we went looking for her mom, and Qrow had to save us, and I guess she felt bad. So, to make it up to me, she was going to help me bring mom back.”

That brought Jaune’s head up. “You tried to bring your mom back?” he asked. “Then you have no right to tell us we can't do it!”

“Let her finish,” Ren said. He put a hand on Jaune’s arm. Nora did the same.

“Fine,” Jaune said.

Ruby waited until she was sure they were done to continue. “I got into alchemy only a little bit after I unlocked my aura--it’s only natural, and anyway, at Signal that's one of the ways you can forge your own weapon. It's about the same for Yang. By the time we decided--we decided to bring mom back, we were both pretty good. It was my first year at Signal, and Yang’s last, when we finally decided we were ready.

It’s not really the kind of thing they teach in class, so we spent a lot of time in the library of this house, gleaning whatever bits and pieces we could. Some parts of it were easy: the human body is made up of materials that are way easier to find than dust, or the components necessary to forge or transmute a weapon, or whatever.

I remember, when we mixed them all together, the components looked like mud. And it took a long time to draw the circle.”

Ruby sighed.

I don't know how Qrow figured it out, but right before we were about to initiate the transmutation he was there, standing in the center of the circle with a bucket of water.

‘You’re not doing this,’ he said. 

Yang stood up. I just knelt there, watching him. I didn't get why he wanted to stop us, yet. I just wanted to see my mom again, and I knew he loved her too.

‘I promised Ruby she could see her mom again,’ Yang said. ‘Even if I can't see mine.’

‘You need to stop putting your little sister in danger,’ Qrow said, picking up the bucket of components and dumping its contents on the floor. ‘One day, I won’t be there to fix it.’

‘This isn't like that!’ Yang answered. ‘This time, I'm big enough to protect her.’

Qrow shook his head. He looked at the both of us. ‘This isn't just something grown-ups say you can't do because it's too complicated to explain,’ he said. ‘You can't do it because... because...”

He was at a loss for words. That scared me more than anything else.

‘Because it doesn't work. Whatever you bring back, it won't be... it won't be Summer. It will be a twisted, Summer-shaped  _ thing _ . It won't be... It won’t be your mom.’

‘How do you know?’ I asked. I could feel myself start crying. ‘Yang promised...’

‘Yang doesn't know everything,’ Qrow said. He turned to her. ‘I’m sorry.’ He looked back at me. ‘There was a man once who tried to bring his friend back. He loved her, in the way a friend does, and he hurt for himself and her daughters when her husband... when she died. So, he tried to bring her back.’

Qrow sighed, and rubbed out more of the circle with his foot. ‘He’s half metal, now. It's a miracle he’s even alive.’

He stared at the two of us. ‘You’d just lose parts of yourself, and for what?’

With that, he walked over to me and picked me up. I was too stunned to do anything about it, and I found myself crying into his shoulder.

I heard the sound of Yang’s footsteps behind me as he carried me out. I guess I was really tired, cause the next thing I remember is waking up in my room.”

 

No one spoke for a while after Ruby was finished with her story.

“Is that... is that how Ironwood?” It seemed like Jaune had already connected the dots.

Ruby nodded. “I think so.”

She heard what at first she thought was the sound of someone hiccuping, then she saw Ren had his hands over his face, his shoulders moving up and down just a little. 

“Ren...” Ruby started, unsure of what to do. Ren crying was freaky. Really, really freaky. 

He got up so quickly his chair he knocked over his chair and fled the room.

Nora got up almost as quickly after him, not bothering to pick up the chair. “Ren!” she called out after him. “REN!”

Jayne got up more slowly. He was smiling, even though Ruby could see tears streaking down his face. “I guess... I guess being the strong one isn't so easy,” he said. “I should follow them.”

Alone in the kitchen, Ruby crumpled. 

“You did the right thing, kiddo,” she heard. 

“Qrow?”

She hasn't noticed him.

“Only heard part of it, but Tai and I were getting suspicious.”

He rubbed at the back of his head, and took a swig from his ever-present flask. “‘S probably better they heard it from you,” he said roughly. 

“I feel... I feel like a huge jerk,” Ruby said. “I made  _ Ren _ cry.” 

Qrow sighed. “Better that than us walking in on Ren trapped inside Jaune’s body, or something,” he said. “You want something to eat?” he asked. “I usually don't cook, but this seems to have been a pretty shit morning.”

That made Ruby laugh a little. “Sure,” she said.

She looked at him, unsure how to ask her next question.

“She hasn't talked me to,” he said.

“Okay,” she answered. 


End file.
